Absolution [Liam]

[renard walt goyle]

@liam

09.05.2024

The Ministry’s cafeteria was the most abysmal fucking place in the entire universe. And that was before the food was accounted for. To say that it left something to be desired was an understatement. There was a reason that his lunch breaks were usually extensive and lead him far away from the intellectually stunted rabble of the cafeteria goers that currently sat all around him at their tiny tables making idle chit-chat that had nothing to do about anything, all looking like they didn’t have a care in the world. Idiots. He was never forgetting his damn umbrella again, The torrential downpour that had managed to sneak its way into the forecast this afternoon had the potential to be a flower watering spell gone awry by the looks of it, with the added juice of claps of thunder every couple of minutes. Renard knew there were other options in Diagon Alley that he could easily apparate to, but from the amount of workers heading to the zones to do so, he was sure it would be worse in the restaurants than it would be in the cafeteria. What lay before him now, though, was quite the contrary. He was probably going to catch idiot germs for eating the same soggy sandwiches as everyone else. That was wonderful.

To avoid having to interact with his ‘colleagues’, if that was what these ones could be called, Renard had a recent report of a young centaur that had wandered too closely to muggle properties. For supposedly being of higher intelligence, they were relatively dimwitted at times. He would never say that in front of a pack of them though. That was rule number one with the centaurs. They were faster and stronger than a wizard on their own, and with a group of them it was almost impossible to make it out unscathed. He detested having to bend over backwards for them, but at least they weren’t remotely close to being as vile as werewolves were. Those things could up and die for all he cared. They were untamable, unlike the centaurs and vampires. At least not yet. Taking a rather disappointing bite out of his sandwich, Renard slapped it back down onto the plate. The fact that it even made a slapping noise said a lot about it. He was better off not eating at all and spending the rest of his break reading over the report before heading out to deal with the border charms that the centaur could have screwed up. If he looked like he was doing work, no one would bother him.

[Deleted]

Liam was more annoyed than he should be. He knew this and kept telling himself that repeatedly, but that did nothing to help his abysmal mood. The thing was, he liked the silence that normally permeated the Ministry Cafeteria. Most of the time when he went there, the place was pretty empty, which was how Liam preferred the place. He normally brought a lunch with himself, so he didn't have to deal with the cafeteria food. Days like today, where the cafeteria was full of chattering people, annoyed him. More than that, he hated when his favorite seat got taken. Liam didn't like having to sit in the middle of the room.

He found one of the seats on the edge of the room and sat down. Another guy was right in front of him, but Liam didn't say anything to him. He'd never seen this guy in the cafeteria before, so it wasn't like he could greet him or anything. He just sat and pulled out a book, figuring that he might as well read while he ate his lunch. Leftover lasagna from the night before. He used his wand to heat it up before he started eating, still paying no attention to the person in front of him.

renard walt goyle

[renard walt goyle]

@liam

09.05.2024

Trying to convince himself that the person now sitting across from him wasn’t an imbecile was impossible, mostly because he was. Personal space obviously didn’t exist in this man’s universe, because any normal human wouldn’t casually sit down across from another person without asking first, let alone at all. Renard had half the mind to stand up and leave then and there; his sandwich (if it could be called that to begin with) was subpar at best, leaving a lot to be desired, and he wouldn’t be able to peacefully read his report with another being right there. Despite the guy also pulling out reading material and seeming like he was going to stay silent, it still irked Renard that there hadn’t been any sort of verbal confirmation that the chair was open for taking. What if he was waiting for his boss, and then this asshole took the seat and refused to give it up? Impossible situation that it was, the fact remained that being inconsiderate and oblivious to others was going to end up with a few choice words eventually. Unless he was the type that thrived off of that. Renard hoped he wasn’t one of those. They were a waste of time and energy, and he had spent enough time today dealing with idiots that figuring out how to get around the mental gymnastics of a self-righteous jerk-off wasn’t going to happen with him.

“Always sit wherever you want?” Renard spoke up, knowing that if anything was going to be said, it was going to have to come from him first. This was going to be the pettiest discussion he had held in a while, the last being a chance run-in with the bitchy Weasley girl in the men’s washroom. Now she was the epitome of petty; the walking, talking, snarling, dictionary definition of it. The lows Renard had hit during that encounter were barely recoverable, and here he was, starting beef with someone just because they sat down across from him. Clearly the Ministry was starting to wear him down, dulling out his intelligence just like it did with everyone else here.

[Deleted]

Liam didn't know what he expected when he sat down, but he did not expect the man to call him out on sitting in front of him. Liam finished reading the sentence and then looked up, lifting an eyebrow at the guy. "Normally no one's here, so it's not a problem," he grumbled back. If the man didn't want him here, he should have just said so. Making a comment like that wasn't about to make Liam want to move. In fact, he wouldn't mind staying just to piss the other man off. He looked back down at his book, part of him hoping that would make the other man angrier, and part of him not caring what the other man thought. Liam didn't come to the cafeteria to deal with other people. He came here because it was convenient and normally empty. Now it was just habit and he wasn't going to get worked up about sitting next to a jerk.

renard walt goyle

[renard walt goyle]

@liam

09.05.2024

The man wasn’t wrong, normally Renard wasn’t here, so it wouldn’t normally be a problem. But he was here, and thus it now was a problem. They were all adults in the Ministry (or at least Renard was fine with convincing himself that was true, most of the supposed adults were more childlike than the children themselves in his experience), so everyone should already know about granting a certain level of personal space to peers. Yet this man still sat down across from him without saying a word. The kicker was that Renard was actually working through lunch, and being rudely interrupted in this manner meant he wasn’t going to let it go as easily. Having to whine just so he could get some sort of space to do work wasn’t his style, but if it got the job done he was fine with anything. “Who said it was a problem?” Renard responded, timing his quip for when the man looked back down at his book. He was going to make reading that book extremely difficult, seeing as it was impossible to read his report with another person right in front of him. “I would have said so if I took issue with it. Unless you’re insinuating that I’m the problem here, and then we really will have to have a chat about that.” That would hopefully be intimidating enough to get the ball rolling. If he decided to argue back, that would only strengthen Renard’s argument. Turning everything the man used against himself would be all too easy.

[Deleted]

Wow. This guy was definitely looking for some sort of fight, or he was annoyed. Maybe it was the weather, maybe it was something else, but he really didn’t want to have to deal with it. A part of him wished there were other spots in the room to sit, but it seemed that everywhere was so full and he just didn’t want to bother with it. He rolled as the guy asked who said it was a problem. “No one said it was a problem,” he answered after a moment. Then he shrugged. “And I guess since you don’t have a problem it’s all good. We can chat about something else if you’d rather.” He wondered if the guy would still try to fight with him or how he’d respond to that. Liam was trying to not rise to the occasion. He didn’t want to fight.

renard walt goyle
(hehe he's annoyed, but not enough to start a fight)

[renard walt goyle]

@liam

09.05.2024

Chat about something else? Renard physically shook his head in disbelief as the other man said that. What was this, a talk with a psychiatrist? Were they sharing their feelings with each other now too? This was a whole new level of idiocy he was being introduced to. Popping the metaphorical personal space bubble aside, this guy was a complete looney. Nobody, absolutely nobody, approached another person and asked if there was a problem, and then defaulted to wanting to talk about something else altogether. That was dumbest way to deescalate a situation that Renard had ever seen. Dealing with people didn’t work that way, unless they were a toddler. At least then you could redirect the child to a more productive activity. Renard couldn’t figure out what the man was playing at, and thus continued to stare at him, wondering what his own move should be.

“Actually,” Renard broke his silence, “You said it was a problem.” Excellent. Now he was really getting petty and confrontational for no reason. If this is what going to the freaking cafeteria was going to do to him from now on, then he was done with it. “By insinuating that it’s never a problem because no one is normally here, and now I am here, that should mean it is a problem for you,” he pointed out, the death grip he had on his paperwork probably becoming visible by now. “Even if that isn’t what you meant, you have to be clearer with your intentions and phrasing. It’s easy to provide someone with the wrong information around here.”

[Deleted]

All right, this guy was definitely trying to start a fight. What, was he just bored or something? Would he have responded this way to anyone that approached his table, or did Liam just happen to do something that would annoy him? The guy continued, saying that Liam said it was a problem by insinuating something or another. Wow. This was just a whole other level of desperate. Did the guy always search through everything that people said, looking for an insult? Liam would have to assume yes, since he was so adept at it. He found himself wanting- even more now- to annoy the guy. The easiest way to do that would probably be to refuse to fight, which was easy enough. Liam had no intention of dueling it out during his lunch hour in the cafeteria. "I would only be insinuating that to someone who assumes that associating with others is a bad thing," Liam contradicted shortly. "I merely pointed out the fact that normally this place is unoccupied, I didn't say it was a problem that someone was here today." He paused before adding, "Even with the most carefully thought out phrasing, people can always find a way to twist it if they so desire." Like this entire conversation. It was ridiculous, and really not how Liam wanted to spend his lunch, but oh well. 

renard walt goyle

[renard walt goyle]

@liam

09.05.2024

Renard had a feeling that his points were going to be flipped back around on him, and that was exactly what the other man did. It was only easy to rotate them around again and again – that was the one fault in his plan from the beginning. This guy was smart, which was why it made it that much more frustrating when trying to get rid of him. Renard stopped what he was doing in order to listen to him talk. They had different opinions on what this conversation meant, even when it they both understood it fully. He sounded like a Ravenclaw. That was the part about his house that Renard always hated. Smartasses, always playing the devil’s advocate or speaking out of turn just to sound like they knew everything about the lesson. He preferred to stick to his guns, thus the vitriol and dagger-like looks he was shooting towards the man were indicative of how he actually felt about the entire situation. “Fair enough,” Renard stated, turning back to his work. The only frustrating part was that he couldn’t concentrate anymore, because he knew there would be a smirk on the guy’s face. His response made it seem like he was throwing in the towel. Renard liked to call it picking his battles, and that was a battle where neither of them were going to get very far.

“You were a Ravenclaw, weren’t you?” he said after a few seconds of staring blankly at his work. That thought had been nagging him during the silence. It only made sense. “Either that or you’re working towards being on the Wizengamot, in which case stop while you’re ahead.” It was a waste of time, in his opinion. There were much more fulfilling legislative jobs in the Ministry that were available right now, and trying to climb the political cesspool known as the Wizengamot was not one of them. His own parents had wanted that out of him, Renard figuring that in a few decades it could be a possibility, but only after he made pushes in his current department. There needed to be quite a few changes before he ever went after the highest court of law.

[Deleted]

After a notable hesitation, the other man admitted that Liam had a point, turning back to his work. Liam closed his eyes and quietly let out a long breath. Now that he didn't feel like he was under fire, it would be much easier for him to eat his food and get out of here. He didn't normally rush his lunches, but he found that he had little desire to stay in the cafeteria long today. He didn't like it when people twisted his words, didn't really like talking with people in general, which was why he worked where he did. He picked up his sandwich and took a bite, determined to enjoy it until it was gone. 

Then the other one spoke once more. Liam glanced up at him in surprise. He thought this conversation was over, but apparently not. The man wanted to know if he was Ravenclaw, or if he was trying to get on the Wizengamot. Liam scoffed. "I have no intention of being on the Wizengamot, but I was Ravenclaw." Why did this guy care? Because Liam avoided his obvious attempt to start a fight? Liam didn't like the implication that he couldn't get on the Wizengamot, but not enough to say anything about it. This guy was probably still itching for some kind of a fight. "Why?" he asked after a moment. Why would this guy care if he was going the political route, or if he was from Ravenclaw?

renard walt goyle

[renard walt goyle]

@liam

09.05.2024

Apparently both of his questions were out of the blue. If the other man hadn’t responded so quickly, Renard would have guessed that he had nailed both perfectly. The Ravenclaw bit was fairly easy, he could tell by the analytical look the guy had on his face and how he spoke. Seven years of going through that and spotting a fellow should have been easy. There were the seriously studious types, those that got off to learning, and the insufferably driven ones, like himself, that made up the typical crowd in Ravenclaw. The occasional loser made it through, but those were only on the years where Hufflepuff and Gryffindor were overcrowded. It was easier to force rhetoric down a newbie’s throat than to let them wander around aimlessly. Renard did that quite a few times over the years, showing the younger students how to study in order to quiet them down so they would stop bothering him.

When it came to the Wizengamot though, that was more of a shot in the dark. He needed something ridiculous to mask the fact that the guy looked vaguely familiar from school, despite it having been a little over three years now. He hated remembering people unless they had a purpose, which this one clearly didn’t have while in school.

“Why? Because I figured you were one or the other. Don’t believe it needs more of a reason than that,” Renard shrugged. Telling others to drop out of their dreams of being on the Wizengamot could come across a million and one ways, in his experience, usually resulting in the other person thinking he was jealous of the upward climb everyone was going on. Then again, wasn’t that the whole point of the Ministry? Cut everyone else around you down just to get a few more galleons per paycheck? Almost everyone started at the bottom and very few ever made it to the top. “What’s your last name?”

[Deleted]

Liam was eating his food a little more quickly than normal, mostly because this was super awkward. It was obvious this guy just wanted to make him upset or goad him into a fight, which definitely wasn't Liam's style. He preferred to stay in the shadows, keeping to himself quietly as he ate his food. This constant conversation seemed pointless. Going back to work early was definitely preferable to standing here talking with this guy. No question about it. 

He shook his head when the guy answered his question by saying that he didn't have any reasons for asking. Wow. So he really was still looking for a fight. It gave Liam more than a bit of satisfaction that his refusal to get riled up by this guy's constant attempts was probably bugging him. Normally Liam wasn't the kind of guy that wanted to annoy others, but he'd make an exception now. "Flint," he answered after a moment. "Yours?" Might as well see if he could get that much out of the other guy.

renard walt goyle

[renard walt goyle]

@liam

09.05.2024

He wasn’t expecting to hear the guy say his last name was Flint. The Flint that was only a few years younger than him? The guy had said he was in Ravenclaw, and that lined up with the one that Renard remembered from school. He was obviously a few years older than the last time Renard had seen him, so that would explain not recognizing him at all. “You’re Flint? Jesus I thought you had another year or two left at Hogwarts.” Renard’s demeanor changed. Mistaking the kid as an unambitious loser (like the majority of the Ministry employees were) was pretty easy to do. But he had the right kind of blood in his veins that it was better to switch gears than to keep grinding away at the poor guy. “Goyle. Sorry about that. I have a habit of working over new hires. Everyone gets it at some point or another,” Renard apologized. There was no telling if it would be accepted or not, and he really didn’t care, but at least he was making an effort. Most people that he steamrolled didn’t even get that honor.

“So which department are you in? We’ve covered that you don’t want to go into high politics. Can’t blame you there. That’s some boring shit they do up there,” he rolled his eyes as he took another bite of his sandwich. Being dead was better than being in the Wizengamot right now. They had absolutely no idea what was going on out in the world. Apparently they had a habit of doing that whenever shit hit the fan. No surprise that kids were being murdered left and right while at school.

[Deleted]

It was interesting what a name could do. Almost seconds after telling the other guy his name, he wasn't trying to pick a fight anymore. Liam couldn't help but wonder if it was all because he was a pureblood, but he wasn't going to bring that up. He didn't want to be the one to cause a fight now that the other guy seemed to calm down some. He nodded and smirked, 'No, I've been out of school for a year," Liam answered. He was glad to be out of school, to be away from all the drama and stress that he found there. It was much easier working in the Department of Mysteries. As a general rule he didn't have to deal with anyone he didn't want to, which was definitely a blessing for Liam. He wasn't always the best at dealing with people. He nodded when the guy introduced himself as Goyle. Yup, pureblood. Liam nodded, accepting his apology, "No problem," he hoped that Goyle wouldn't expect more than that. On his best days, Liam wasn't particularly wordy. He was smart, but socially ... getting his words to come out the way he wanted them to was always a struggle for him. 

"I'm in the Department of Mysteries," Liam smiled just a little. He loved his job. He loved the fact that he couldn't go into details about what he did and he really just loved all the different things he got to investigate in his job. Personally, he didn't understand why anyone would rather go into the politics and the dealing with people over the research. Facts and objects were much easier to deal with than people. "What about you?" It was more a question because Liam felt like it was expected than anything, but at the same time he was interested. Now that the guy wasn't attacking him or looking for a fight, Liam felt like he could relax and have a decent conversation.

renard walt goyle

[renard walt goyle]

@liam

09.05.2024

He had only been a few years off when trying to guess when Flint should have been done with school. Once his own graduation had completed, Renard basically gave up caring about the younger students. The only time he really heard anything regarding that was when his sister was home on break, and even then they seemed to be in agreeance that discussing Hogwarts only happened when there was nothing else to talk about. There were only so many new things that could occur in the span of a few years; they both had experienced the same lessons, almost the same professors, and the exams barely changed from year to year. In reality, Renard didn’t really care what year Flint had graduated, whether it was this past year or the one immediately following Renard’s. There was also the possibility that he had this Flint confused with another Flint – there really was no way of telling. All the pureblood families seemed to have a number of spawn to carry on their will. The difference between this one and the next was minimal at best. “No kidding? So you’re not as green at all of this as I thought,” he ended on, before taking another bite of his food. That meant the kid had probably been grilled by senior officials by this point. It would explain the reaction Renard had gotten out of him for sure.

Wonderful. He was in the Department of Mysteries, where literally nothing was a mystery. Or at least that was the general consensus. Renard could care less about that part of the Ministry. Doing ‘research’ for the rest of his life sounded boring. At least his department gave him some sort of action out in the field. “Regulation and Control. Beast division,” he said proudly. He loved it there. Wouldn’t trade the world for it. It allowed him to watch over all of the undesirables that were trying to creep into his world, eliminating and removing the more unseemly ones. “Unfortunately most of my work lately has been in extracting the nasties out of homes and businesses, but someone has to do it. I’d rather go in than see a ward at Mungo’s full because a shopkeeper tried to remove pixies on their own.”